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Free Internet service providers have traditionally offered subscriber databases as their most attractive asset to advertisers. But Westlake Village-based NetZero Inc. goes beyond that, trumping its in-depth profiles of subscribers’ online behavior to the point where it is guaranteeing advertisers an increase in hits. Web surfers know their every click around the Net can be observed and shared with advertisers. But how much does Big Brother really know? Everything, if you’re a registered user at a free ISP like NetZero. And it is because of not in spite of this watchful eye that NetZero stays afloat in the fast-diminishing free ISP market. Now, NetZero is dangling an unusual carrot in front of new advertisers. It is offering a guaranteed 33-percent increase in Web site traffic for new, qualifying advertisers. NetZero’s technology allows it to monitor the increased visits to an advertiser’s site during the advertising campaign. The traffic flow will be measured and compared to the four-week period before the campaign began. If the promised increase is not realized, NetZero will give the advertiser an additional 33 percent of purchased impressions spread over the following month. Like many growing Internet companies, NetZero is posting ever-larger net losses, $26.9 million (27 cents per diluted share) for the second quarter ended June 30 vs. a net loss of $8.2 million (72 cents) in the year-earlier quarter. Nonetheless, advertisers appear to be buying. For the second quarter, NetZero reported revenues of $18.7 million, up from $16.9 million in the first quarter ended March 30 and way up from $3.7 million in the second quarter of 1999. “Of all the free ISPs, NetZero is the best at monetizing traffic,” said Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analyst Vik Mehta. “They’re not only bringing new users in, they’re providing advertisers the ability to reach out to them. In doing so, they’re providing a value, and that’s what the whole business is about.” “NetZero is leading a charge to greater knowledge of audience,” said Jupiter Research analyst Marissa Gluck. “The online advertising market is looking for greater efficiency, so being able to know your audience is incredibly important.”